Mapping the Areas of the Brain Associated With Language in Children With Epilepsy

Researchers are interested in studying if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is practical for locating the areas of the brain associated with language in children with epilepsy. When a region of the brain is active, it uses more fuel in the form of oxygen and sugar (glucose). As the brain uses more fuel it produces more waste products, carbon dioxide and water. Blood carries fuel to the brain and waste products away from the brain. As brain activity increases blood flow to and from the area of activity increases also. Patients participating in the study will be asked to perform tasks designed to test language skills while undergoing an MRI to detect areas of the brain using oxygen and receiving blood flow. We propose to study the feasibility of utilizing MRI to perform functional mapping of language cortex in children with epilepsy. We will use 1.5 Tesla MRI to study cerebral blood flow and tissue oxygenation during cognitive activation tasks derived from previous adult studies.